People Are Getting Divorced a Lot Less Often Than They Used To Because of Feminism

Thank you, science.

Despite the fact that all anyone seems to talk about is the crazy high divorce rate, marriages in America are actually stronger than they've been in a long time [via The New York Times.

According to Justin Wolfers, a University of Michigan economist, about 70 percent of marriages that began in the 1990s reached their 15th anniversary, which is up from 65 percent in the 1970s and 1980s. Divorce rates from marriages that began in the 2000s are even lower.

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So why is everyone staying married longer? Researchers seem to think it's due to later-in-life marriages, birth control, and changing gender roles.

Marriage therapist and professor of family social science at University of Minnesota, William Doherty, says that since two-thirds of divorces are initiated by women, this means that women's expectations of marriage have likely changed and they're less likely to be unhappy in them.

In the 1950s and 1960s, women married men because they needed breadwinners, but now with most women in the work force and in charge of their own reproduction, marriage is more likely to be based on love and passion, and are more likely to feature two incomes and both parties contributing to the housework.

So marriages are better because women can finally marry someone they love and not just someone who can pay the bills because they're not allowed to work? Go figure.

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